14 DAY TRIAL // There’s no doubt that Windows is the number one choice on desktop computers, but the Redmond-based technology giant Microsoft has lost the battle with its longtime rivals when it comes to the entire global computing market.
A report released by Goldman Sachs and published by The Seattle Times claims that Windows’ market share has dropped significantly from 97 percent in 2000 to only 20 percent this year.
And there’s only one main reason for this decline: the impressive growth of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. Microsoft is yet to become a key player in this particular market, as desktop computers remained its main focus for many years.
Android is currently the number one player in the OS market, the report shows, as it holds a share of 42 percent. Apple’s OS X and iOS helped the fruit-named company reach the second position with 24 percent of the computing devices worldwide, while Microsoft is only third with a share of 20 percent.
The report shows that Microsoft’s efforts to expand beyond the desktop environment won’t pay off anytime soon, so Apple and Android will remain the two main players in the industry until 2016.
“Microsoft faces an uphill battle (though not insurmountable) given it lacks meaningful share in either tablets or smartphones and as such will need to rely on its appeal to knowledge workers to help drive adoption as its complement ecosystem will remain behind the iOS and Android platforms at least over the next 6-12 months,” the report reads.
And still, Microsoft is expected to increase its market share in the upcoming years, but it will remain far from both Android and iOS.
“Nevertheless, we are optimistic that Microsoft will be able to regain some share in coming years assuming that adoption trends around the company's newly launched tablet and smartphone operating systems are positive,” the report adds.